VALENTALE
by Cravats are cool
Summary: It's Valentine's Day, and Frisk is going to throw a party for all of their Underground friends. And heaven help them, Frisk is going to make Flowey help too. Monsters celebrating Valentine's Day. What's the worst that could happen? Featuring mute, nonbinary!Frisk, flowerpot!Flowey, bad puns, and all the monster faves.
1. Preparations

"Really? All for one stupid holiday?" Flowey asks, watching the small missile of a child zoom around the house at the speed of light. "This is just too much. Even _you_ have to admit defeat this time."

Frisk shakes their head insistently at him, though it's slightly undermined by them grappling with a paper chain of hearts. They pant quietly and stretch up to hang it. When they're done, it hangs sloppy and lopsided over the doorway, but Frisk beams at their work all the same.

"The others will be home any minute," drawls Flowey from his perch on the desk. "I can see them coming."

The child turns quickly to look out of the window. There isn't a monster in sight. They scowl. Frisk picks up their notepad and uses an orange crayon to scrawl _You're NOT funny,_ on the pad, and shove it at the smug flower.

The glorified potted plant smirks. "I'm not trying to be funny. You're doing that all on your own."

Raising their crayon high above their head in preparation to make a scathing retort, Frisk is interrupted by a sudden beeping sound from the kitchen, as well as the smell of smoke. The child drops the notepad, and darts to the rescue.

Wrinkling their nose, Frisk opens the oven door, but not before putting on the overly flowery oven mitts that Toriel is very adamant on using. They bite their lip upon seeing the mess. They were too late. These cookies are unsalvageable. The child taps one experimentally against the tray. It clunks loudly; it might as well be a brick. An incredibly tasty brick, but a brick nonetheless.

There's a snickering sound from the other room. "So, uh, how's that determination working out for you?" There's a pause, but the child doesn't answer. "Golly, maybe if you tried resetting, you could get those cookies right..."

The suddenly-sinister flower knows he's crossed the line. He waits. As time drags on without a response, the evil grin slides off his face, replaced with confusion. In the kitchen, he can hear some quick snipping noises, and then the human marches into view. Without a word, they stop in front of the flower, and stretch up, holding something. Flowey's vision is unexpectedly filled with the words _SHUT UP_ scrawled on a pink paper heart card that has been stamped onto his face.

Flowey huffs. "Fine, fine. I get the message."

 _Thank you,_ Frisk signs sarcastically at him, rolling their eyes. They pick Flowey up and walk back into the kitchen, setting him on the counter.

This was okay. Maybe this would be alright. After all, the child had seen monsters eat dishes made out of snails, and frozen-solid spaghetti without batting an eye. They probably didn't have any tastebuds anyway. Frisk pulls over a stool to start searching the cabinet for frosting.

"Frisk?"

The named child ignores him.

"Frisk. Aren't you going to take this heart thing off?" Flowey persists. After a moment; "Please?"

The human continues to ignore him, wobbling slightly when they jump off the stool. They start applying frosting liberally to the disaster cookies. They don't have the time to keep talking to Flowey. They have to decorate the cookies, and the house, and make valentines for every monster in the Underground. And they have to do it all before any of the said monsters get home!

* * *

Remarkably, Frisk has actually done it. Through the power of sheer determination, the surprise Valentine's Day party was all set to go. As a consequence though, the child was exhausted. Once they had finished, they had dropped down to lie on their stomach on the kitchen floor. They hadn't moved since.

Flowey, the card recently removed from his face, watches them, unimpressed. "You're so dramatic."

In response, Frisk raises one leg high and places a hand on top of their head, striking a dramatic pose without ever peeling their face off of the floor.

"Hmph. Well, if I was you, I would think quickly. Toriel and Sans are coming back from Grillby's."

Frisk gasps silently and leaps up from the ground. They grab their notepad, backpack, and Flowey, taping the card back onto his face to ensure that he wouldn't spoil the surprise. The child sprints out to intercept the skeleton and goat monster that are making their way up the driveway.

"My child, are you alright?" Toriel frowns in concern. She looks down at Frisk, "Why are you in such a rush?"

 _I really missed you, Mom._ Frisk improvises, scribbling it down. The human takes comfort in the fact that at least it isn't a lie.

Toriel melts right on cue, ruffling the child's hair. "You know Sans and I always have lunch at Grillby's on Sundays. You're also welcome to come, if you'd like."

"yeah, kid, " Sans chimes in, "we'd hate for you to get _bone-_ ly around here."

Frisk throws their hands up in the air and waves them around to show the crowd going wild.

Toriel hides her giggles behind a paw. Not to be outdone, she looks down at Flowey, "And what about your _frond_ there? He's all covered up. It seems you're trying to get him to _leaf_ you alone."

"Please, stop." Flowey groans, his voice muffled behind the valentine.

"nice ones, tori," Sans chuckles, staring at the potted plant with his perpetual grin. "though, maybe we should take it easy on him. the poor guy looks like he's having a bad _thyme._ "

"Argh!" The agitated flower twists and turns in the confines of his pot. Frisk takes pity on him and pulls off the valentine finally. Behind it, the flower is wearing a pained grimace.

The human gives Sans and Toriel a thumbs-up with their free hand. Once the monsters had finished laughing, (or, in Flowey's case, struggling) Toriel clears her throat again. "Well, I suppose we should take this party inside. We can all play a game. Or watch Mettaton's show."

"good idea. let's go inside. i'm getting chilled to the _bone_ out here."

As Sans and Toriel start once more towards the house, Frisk skids in front of them, waving their hands frantically. _NO!_ They signed quickly.

"no? i thought that pun was pretty great, _tibia_ honest."

The child rolls their eyes and humors Sans with some quick jazz hands before writing on their pad, _No, as in, you shouldn't go in there!_ They can't risk Sans and Toriel seeing the decorations before it's time.

"Whyever not, my child?" Toriel asks. She's now frowning again.

"Yeah, why not, Frisk?" Flowey eggs the goat monster on unhelpfully. The child glares at him.

The human's mind races. _Because…_ they write, stalling. Inspiration strikes. _The house is full of TOXIC GAS! Yeah!_ Frisk underlines the words with a green crayon and pretends to gag for emphasis. Inside, they feel guilt gnaw at them for the lie.

"toxic gas?" the short skeleton looks skeptical. Flowey is doing the flower equivalent of raising an eyebrow.

Toriel looks concerned. She's already started to look over the human. "Toxic? Are you hurt?"

Frisk shakes their head quickly. _It doesn't affect humans,_ they write.

"If it doesn't affect humans, then how would you know it's toxic?" Flowey mutters, but no one pays attention to him.

"and what about the flower over here? is he okay?" Sans jabs a boney thumb in the monster's direction. The child purses their lips.

 _Well, flowers don't really breathe, so…_

The skeleton shoves his hands back into his pockets. "do you have any idea what caused it?"

 _I dunno... Ask Alphys! She'll know what to do!_

"Uh. I suppose," Toriel still looks dubious, despite the fact that Frisk has come up with an incredibly convincing lie. "Will you come with us, young one?"

 _Maybe later?_ The child writes. _I wanna play outside first._ They draw a little smiley sun next to the word "outside."

"you're really gonna take flowey with you?" Sans looks almost suspicious.

Frisk nods, heart hammering. What if he sees through them? _Flowers need fresh air!_

And they needed to make sure Flowey didn't destroy the decorations while they were gone.

"I would really rather stay ind-" the potted plant tries to speak up, but the human clamps a hand over his mouth and smiles nervously.

"Are you sure you're alright? You're acting quite strangely, little one."

The human waves dismissively, signing _I'm fine, Mom. Go ask Alphys! I'll see you later!_

"uh-huh. see ya, kiddo." Sans knows something is up, but he isn't trying to stop it. For now, at least.

"Use your cellphone if you need something!" Toriel says as she and Sans retreat back down the street. Frisk waves and waits until they are out of sight before sagging with relief. The child bites their lip, feeling terrible for lying to their mother and to their friend. They have to remind themself that it's for a good cause before the human can drag themself back into action.

The human slings their backpack down, unzipping it to pop Flowey in the bag. "Don't ever get into poker," the flower advises when he's settled in. "You would be awful at it." Frisk ignores him and pulls out their cell phone. They take the time to wipe off their sweaty palms before sending a text to Toriel.

 _When you and Uncle Sans get Alphys to come check out the house, you should get Undyne, Papyrus, Mettaton, and Asgore to come too! You never know what it's gonna take to get rid of toxic gas! Thanks, Mom!_

 _-Frisk_

That should buy them some time.

* * *

 **Author's Note: This was supposed to be shorter but since I wrote like ten pages, I turned this into a two part. The actual party will happen on actual Valentine's Day.**

 **If anyone wants to know why Flowey's there in a post-pacifist run, let's pretend Frisk took him to the surface with them as a potted plant. Since no one remembers the fight with Asriel, the other monsters just think that he's Frisk's weird friend (And not that his addition was entirely an accident because I needed someone for more dialogue.)**

 **I promise I'll get back onto the second part of The Invisible Monster after this.**

 **But anyway, I hope you liked it and if you did, please leave a kudos or come scream with me in the comments! I'd really appreciate it; thanks for reading!**


	2. Party

Frisk is having a good time. It's a _monster-_ ous task to track down every creature from the Underground and deliver their valentine, but Frisk manages to make it fun. The human had spent the better part of the afternoon running all over the city giving valentines shaped like paper hats to Icecaps and cards decorated with treats and bones to the dog monsters while Flowey complained.

The child had to hold up Monster Kid's card in order for them to be able to read it. The little monster tried very hard to return Frisk's hug afterwards.

Napstablook attempted to fade away when they saw the human coming towards them with an overflowing armful of valentines. But Frisk persisted and soon the ghost was crying the two of them friendship bracelets using tears of gratitude.

Grillby burned his. It was an accident: all he had done was touch the card. He gave the child free fries in apology. Frisk even left a valentine on an empty street corner for the cloaked monster they sometimes thought they saw in the corner of their eye.

Now, Frisk was rushing to get back home before Toriel and Sans finished rounding up the other monsters. They're exhausted and cold, sniffling from being around so many Temmies, but also exhilarated. It was worth it to see the smiles on every monsters' faces!

"Ugh." Flowey pipes up from where his head pokes out of the backpack as Frisk rounds the corner and starts running up the hill to their house. "I can't believe humans actually made such a sappy holiday. It's disgusting!" His voice takes on a darker edge as he continues. "I can think of some much _better_ ways to celebrate LOVE, if you're interested..."

Opening the door to their home, Frisk frowns at him and walks inside. They scribble on their sketchpad, _Bad. We are not doing that type of LOVE,_ and taps a pudgy finger under the word "not."

"Ugh," the plant says again while the child sets him on his usual spot occupying the kitchen counter. "Fine. Be dull. Celebrate the worst holiday in the world, see if I care."

 _Better,_ the human signs and sticks their tongue out at him.

Flowey mutters, "Real mature." Frisk doesn't care. They hum noiselessly as they busy themself with setting out the cookies in a pretty pattern. It's almost time.

About fifteen minutes later, there is a soft knock at the door. "Knock-knock," calls Toriel's quiet voice.

 _Who's there?_ Frisk signs quickly and looks at Flowey expectantly, pleadingly.

The flower heaves a heavy sigh, feeling all of life's hardest burdens in that single moment. "Who's there?" he grudgingly translates, as Toriel can't see the human from where she is.

There's a gentle snort-laugh on the other side of the door. " _Goat_ on a limb and answer the door, my child."

There's a banging sound outside, and a yell from what must be Papyrus. Frisk claps their hands together. _Another, another!_

"heheheh," Sans seems to sense their enthusiasm, "you heard the goat lady, _kid._ you-"

"PLEASE STOP!" Papyrus screams. "OPEN THE DOOR. PLEASE! FOR MY SANITY!"

Something that sounds suspiciously like " _sansity_ " can be heard before there's a loud boom as Undyne body slams the door open. The others follow her inside.

"We're here to FIGHT the TOXIC GAS!" the fish monster announces loudly when she sees Frisk.

Asgore is frowning "Do we really have to fight it?"

At same time, "I don't really think it's possible to fight a gas, Undyne," Alphys reluctantly informs her girlfriend.

"I'll FIND a way!" Undyne is already stabbing at the air with her spear. One particularly vehement jab sends the paper heart chain above the door fluttering down to the ground. Undyne stops her attack. "Huh? Why is the toxic gas sparkly?"

The group of monsters starts notice the decorations, "hey bud, what's all this?" Sans asks.

"Oooh, yes!" Mettaton shoves his way into the front. The robot struts his way around the room to look over the pink and red sparkly decorations."Why, darling, I had no idea you and Toriel lived in such a fabulous house! It's simply show-stopping!"

"It's very nice," Asgore offers a smile.

 _Thank you!_ Frisk signs, turning back to Flowey to give him a " _some people_ -appreciate-it" look.

Alphys looks around with dawning comprehension. "I-I-I... think I know what this is. In Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie, they had an episode where the Mew-Mew tries to woo her love interest with a holiday called Valentine's Day." The reptile taps her claws together and lowers her voice guiltily. "Heheh, I used to imagine I was the cute boy and Undyne was Mew-Mew..."

"I'll woo you SO HARD you'll SEE STARS!" Undyne cheers, picking up her small, blushing girlfriend and going in for a smooch.

Toriel swoops in to cover Frisk's eyes, "Not in front of the child!"

"IS THAT WHAT THIS IS, HUMAN?" Papyrus asks, "ARE YOU TRYING, TO… WOO US?!"

"I accept!" Mettaton kicks his leg up high in the air.

Frisk shakes Toriel off, pouting. _No, no,_ they write. _I wanted to celebrate our first Valentine's Day together! As a family!_ They look imploringly at the monsters, eyes shining. The moment is somewhat ruined by Flowey grumbling loudly from behind the child.

"heh. you win, kid, how do we celebrate valentine's day?"

 _Yess!_ Frisk draws sparkles next to the word to add pizzazz. _Come in here._ They lead their friends into the kitchen.

The monsters are all seated when Frisk passes out cookies. Flowey gets his first. He stares at it suspiciously, like it's about explode. It has a benign smiley face on it.

"Why did you make me one? You know I think this entire thing is ridiculous."

The child shrugs and signs, _I couldn't leave you out._

Toriel is worried when she receives hers, "How did you make these, my child? You aren't supposed to use the oven by yourself."

 _I'm sorry, Mom._ The human writes, looking contrite. Their chest tightens at the thought of letting Toriel down. _I wanted it to be a surprise._

The goat monster looks at her cookie, which has tiny horns and, written with cramped icing, " _I love you, Mom!"_ She can't stay upset. "Well, I suppose you didn't get hurt. The cookies are lovely." She ruffles the child's hair, causing them to beam. "Thank you, little one."

Asgore's cookie has a flower design on it and is labeled with the word "cookie." Asgore blinks when the small human hands it to him. "Why does it just say cookie? Is that its name? ...Is this supposed to make fun of my ability at naming things?" Frisk nods. The former monster king laughs, eyes wide. "I don't know whether to be insulted or flattered."

The child moves on to Undyne next because Undyne is impatient. The fish monster doesn't wait to see what design her cookie is before she snatches it up and shoves it down her throat. "ALRIGHT! It tastes like ROCKS!" The human gives her a thumbs up.

Alphys stares at Undyne admiringly as the fish monster chokes down the food, shaking her raised fists. "Valentine's Day is so romantic. Just like I imagined. Oh," the reptile takes her cookie. "Th-Thanks, Frisk. You didn't have to..."

Mettaton sweeps up his own as soon as it's offered. "Thank you so much, darling! I promise, I'll treasure it forever! ...Mostly because I don't have a mouth." The boxy robot stared lovingingly at the design of his face in the icing. "With baking talents like these, darling, you'll have to guest star on the cooking segment of my show!" The child nods and strikes a dramatic cooking pose for practice.

"NYEH HEH HEH. LET'S SEE IF WHAT YOU'VE MADE IS AS GOOD AS THE GREAT PAPYRUS' SPAGHETTI, HUMAN." Frisk gives Papyrus his cookie and watches him eat it, waiting with baited breath for the verdict. The tall skeleton's eyes bug out "WHAT IS THIS? MY STANDARDS. THEY'RE BEING? RAISED?!" The human shoots the skeleton with finger-guns and a flirtatious smile, leaving him to wonder before moving on.

Finally, Sans gets his cookie. The shorter skeleton doesn't eat it at first. He raps it against the table to hear it clunk. "guess you could say this is one _tough cookie._ " He gives Frisk a slow wink.

The human obligingly uses their red crayon to write _AHAHAHA!_ in big, forced letters.

"i knew you were hiding something, kiddo," Sans says casually, starting to eat. "you're not a very good liar. i'm just glad it was only this party. i thought it mighta been…. something else."

Frisk didn't know Uncle Sans' eye could turn blue like that. It might have been a trick of the light though; when Frisk blinked, it was gone. It probably wasn't any big deal, and the child skips off to pass out valentines next.

"This is so SAPPY I could DIE!" Undyne screeches after reading hers. "Are you getting SOFT on me? Do you need me to BEAT YOU UP?" She lifts the human up by the front of their sweater. The human balls their hands into little fists and squares up, trying to look tough even though they've barely ever hurt another living creature.

Asgore hurriedly appears and tells Undyne to set the small human down. The fish monster does so. "I was only testing to see if they were tough, I didn't hurt them, you big weenie!" Undyne protests when the former monster king looks over the child. The fish lady gives Frisk a good-natured noogie to prove her point.

Flowey had been quiet the whole time, watching. While the other monsters talk, the human quietly slips the plant his very own valentine. Flowey doesn't say anything while he's reading, then, "...You're not getting through to me, you know. I'm not going to suddenly turn good. It doesn't work that way." There's no bite to his words, just resignation.

Frisk nods solemnly and signs, _I know._

The plant huffs. "Then why do you do things like… this?"

They pause before answering, thinking. _...Just because you can't be nice back, doesn't mean I shouldn't be nice to you._ Frisk gives Flowey their most well-meaning grin. Flowey stares back stonily. The human feels someone come up behind them.

"HUMAN. FLOWER," even though he's trying to be quiet, Papyrus' voice easily drowns out everyone else in the room. "DID WE DO IT? HAVE WE CELEBRATED VALENTINE'S DAY CORRECTLY?"

The human jots down an affirmative, but before they turn the paper around to show it, Alphys mutters, "I can think of one way to make it better..."

"Huh?" Undyne leans down to hear the rest and her face splits into a wide, crooked grin. She scoops up her small girlfriend and sprints out of the house. "ALPHYS AND I HAVE TO PASSIONATELY MAKE OUT IMMEDIATELY, BYE!"

"U-U-Undyne, you weren't supposed to tell everyone!" Alphys squeaks out, blushing.

Mettaton swoons, "Romance! It's what I live for!" He heads out the door, "I simply must try and catch this on camera! Ooh, I could make it into a segment about Valentine's Day, name it something like Love in the Air…" He turns back to the others to wave before breaking through the door. "Ta-Ta, dearies!"

The remaining monsters stare blankly where the three others had left.

Asgore clears his throat. "Well, that was… interesting. ...I suppose it's getting late. I should go home too." He stands. "Valentine's Day was fun ...Bye, Tori," he looks at her hopefully.

She purses her lips at the nickname and doesn't say anything. The former monster king sags, and turns to go. Frisk frowns. They nudge their mom, signing, _It's Valentine's Day. Do it for family?_

Toriel pauses, and then sighs quietly. "Goodbye, Asgore. Happy Valentine's Day." Asgore's retreating form seems to perk up slightly, and Frisk gives their mom a thumbs up.

"WE SHOULD ALSO LEAVE." Papyrus announces, standing. "THANK YOU FOR HAVING I, THE GREAT AND HANDSOME PAPYRUS, OVER AT YOUR HOUSE. AND SANS."

Sans nods. "i'll see you next sunday, tori. we had a great valen _time_ with you guys."

"THAT ONE WASN'T EVEN GOOD!" The taller skeleton shrieks as Toriel laughs and Frisk gives Sans a fistbump. Somewhere from inside the house, Flowey gives a similarly frustrated yell.

Sans and Papyrus troop down the stairs, returning for their home. As they walk back, they can still be heard talking.

"you're a skeleton, bro, you shouldn't let things get _under your skin_ so easily."

"SANS!"

"i thought that one was pretty _humerus,_ myself, but i guess you don't have much of a _funny bone..._ "

"BROTHER! PLEASE!"

"hang on, pap, i've got a ton more. a skele- _ton._ "

"I HATE VALENTINE'S DAY!"

Toriel and Frisk watch from the porch, one of the goat monster's paws lying in the child's hair. She can't seem to stop laughing.

 _Mom,_ the human writes, attracting her attention. _Same time next year?_ They look up at her with a hopeful expression. They've drawn a little, red heart on the pad.

"Yes, little one." Toriel says, once she's gotten herself back under control. She takes Frisk's crayon to draw a bigger heart next to the child's. "Same time next year."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** **Well, with any luck, that was as disgustingly cute as I had hoped. Happy Valentine's Day, folks! Man, this fic was incredibly fun to write; all of the characters have so much personality. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed reading and if you did, a comment or favorite would be super great! Thanks, guys!**


End file.
